06.09. Man O Man
Man O Man Genesis 1:26-27 ; Genesis 2:7
The greatest poets, philosophers, as well as the common man who walks the streets and hills of our planet have thought about where did man come from and why is he here. 10 centuries before Christ was born in Bethlehem, a shepherd lay on the hills of Israel and exclaimed as he looked toward the sky, "When I Consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" Psalms 8:3-4 .
I- Where Did Man Come From?
Created by God- The theories of man’s existence.
The Baptist Faith and Message says, "Man was created by the special act of God." (Hobbs, Herschel H., The Baptist Faith and Message. Nashville: Convention Press, 1971. Revised 1996 pp. 157. Page 43.) Our text tells us that God created man. Man was the crowning work of creation. Man however has come up with his "theories" in an attempt to explain mans’ existence. There are basically three theories of how things came to be. First, Atheistic Evolution, teaches man evolved from monkey and there is no god that created man. Second, Theistic Evolution says that God created everything and then sit back and let it evolve, there is a god but he is not concerned with creation. Special Creation is that a loving God created man and is concerned with our day to day life. You will notice in our text that the creation of man is simply stated in the Bible.
II- Pattern From Which Man Was Cut:
Created Like God- Created in the image of God.
You may have heard it said I was cut out to be a singer but I was sewed together wrong. Lets explore more about the creation of man by seeking to understand what it means when it says we were created, "in the image of God." Genesis 1:26 . a- Genesis 2:7 "Man became a living soul."
One of the ways that man is created in the image of God is that man is eternal from the point of the soul will never cease to exist.
We know that the Scriptures are plain about where Adam got his soul. The Spirit of God breathed the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils and he "became a living soul." The Baptist Faith and Message again states, "Man is not a body and has a soul. He is a soul and has a body. The body is mortal; the soul is immortal." (Hobbs, Herschel H., The Baptist Faith and Message. Nashville: Convention Press, 1971. Revised 1996 pp. 157. Page 43.) The body is simply a possession of the real person. Have you ever noticed the way we refer to our body. We say "my body", much like my car, or truck. The real man possess this piece of clay. The word soul is found 428 times in the Old Testament and is the Hebrew word nephesh. (neh’-fesh). Strong’s Concordance defines it as, "properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental):" (Strong, James, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Riverside Book and Bible House, Iowa Falls, Iowa) In addition to being translated soul it is also translated "beast" 9 times and also "creature." b. Where and how does man get his soul? There is a much-debated topic in America today about when does the baby really become a baby in the mother’s womb. The question can be answered if we can understand when and how man become living soul. There are many theories on this subject. 1- Preexistentialism- Man receives his soul from others who existences prior to this birth. This is the concept of reincarnation and is not taught anywhere in the scriptures. Modern man however seems to be obsessed with this explanation because it relieves him of responsibility for his actions because he will get another shot later. 2- Special Creation- This teaches that when the body is born God creates the soul. If this is true then God creates a sinful soul and God cannot create anything sinful. 3- Natural Generation- We received our soul by natural generation and they come into existence at conception. Notice the following support scriptures. Psalms 51:5 "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psalms 58:3 "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies." This makes sense because the soul of man is not preexistence and is sinful. Christ was preexistent and therefore was sinless. c. "Created in holiness." By this I wish us simply to understand that when God created man he was created holy and without sin. Man’s original environment did not contain sin, it was perfect. d. Self conscious, and God conscious, and a sense of morality. Another way that man is created in the image of God is that man lives in a state of self-awareness, awareness of a Creator and has an ingrained sense of right and wrong. Also we understand that with the Body man is world conscious, with the soul man is self-conscious and with the spirit he is God conscious. e. Higher than the animals. One of the ways that I have come to understand that man is the crown jewel of God creation is that God only created one man. My two sons were talking and my youngest one was speculation of the Adam and Eve of cats. He reasoned that there had to be one male and one female cat. I feel however that God created the animals not just one of each sex but many of each sex. This adds special emphasis unto the fact that man was created one man and one woman. e- The implications of the Image of God? We are created in the image of God and therefore life is sacred. The fact that we are in the image of God should guide us in or thinking out the social issues of our day. Namely abortion and euthanasia. We also know that us being in the image of God should affect the way we treat other human who are in the image of God. We will discuss this next week in further details.
III- Why Is Man Here?
Created to work for God- Man’s original purposes.
Man has and always will asked the question concerning what is man purpose upon this earth. We will look at the original responsibilities of man at creation and see what the original duties of man was.
a. To assume head ship of nature and care for Eden. Genesis 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
Genesis 2:15 "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."
b. To provide names for the animals. Genesis 2:19-20 "And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." c. To love and protect his wife. Genesis 2:24 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." d. Reproduce and populate the earth. Genesis 1:28 "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." e. To enjoy the fruit of the trees except one. Genesis 2:16-17 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
IV- What Happened?
Created Perfect- Man chose to sin. Depravity of Man.
As we have already stated man was created perfect and in a perfect environment. What happen? To find the answer we go to the record of the fall of man found in Genesis 3:1-24. There are many theories and attitudes concerning the fall of man. The liberal view is that it is a legend, a general picture of religion and moral in light the later period. Some see it as myth or true myth that has truth without facts. There are some that would tell us that it only affected Adam and that he was simply a bad example. The thought that man was weakened by the fall but still has potential to be sinless is known as the Armenian Position. The Augustinian Position is that it imputed sin to the whole human race. Simply put this says that when Adam fell the whole human race that was to come from after Adam fell with him. Notice Romans 5:12 : Romans 5:18-19. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned… 18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." So we see that the root of man’s problem is sin. This is known as the depravity of man. The fall of the human race by the one man Adam. Notice Romans 5:8 which says, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He deals with our sin while we are still in it. We do not have to clean up our life for God to save us.
V- What will be the final outcome of Mankind?
What happens after this life?
As you will recall we looked at various theories about where man gets his soul and these theories have direct implications concerning the future of man after he has lived here. We know that the Scripture plainly states that for the believer to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Also it teaches us the moment that a lost man dies he is in torments. This is not the final outcome of man. Hebrews 9:27 says, "...it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." The Scripture teaches us that all men will be raised from the dead. Remember that man is immortal and all men will live forever. John 5:28-29 states, "...the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." We see here that Christ mentions two distinct resurrections. John the Revelator spoke of this in Revelation 20:4-5 "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." We know there are also two different judgments taught in the Scriptures. One is the judgment seat of Christ where all believers will stand. 2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
We find the judgment of the lost at the great white throne judgment found recorded in Revelation 20:11-15 " And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."